Loving the Loveseat

My loveseat upholstery project is moving along. Thank you, Labor Day!

A few weeks ago the loveseat was stripped, springs were tied to a tight base and back of webbing, and I covered the whole shebang with burlap. I then took pause to debate fabric.

Thank you to all who offered input on fabric. I ended up choosing the dark horse, a zig-zag linen that I found on fabric.com for $7 per yard! The price was a big draw—the other fabrics I considered were $30-$40 per yard. I have always had a thing for zig-zags, ignited by an early love of Charlie Brown’s yellow tunic. My total fabric purchase was $41, including shipping, which was unbelievable. In my mind, this almost makes up for the $200 custom cushion.

In the past few weeks I embalmed the loveseat’s arms in cotton batting and tightly stapled a white cotton fabric over the whole situation. I cut a piece of foam to the camelback shape and stapled it to the seat back, then repeated the cotton/ fabric process.  The cotton pads the loveseat frame and the white fabric keeps the cotton contained, providing a clean tight surface for the final layer—the upholstery fabric.

Process shot. Right arm covered in cotton, foam on seat back. Note all of the paint tests on

our living room wall!

Cotton gets covered in fabric

After a day at the beach, I came home and covered the arms and seat back in the zigs. This involves

cutting the fabric in a few key spots, and stapling like a banshee.

Today I started stapling down the zig-zag faric on the arms and seat back. I am thrilled to say that the whole project is visually en fuego. Very graphic and fun, like my inspiration loveseat from Domino.

Loveseat in the "Domino Book of Decorating"

that inspired me.

Next weekend I am going to take the cushion to my upholstery teacher Gina’s studio in Alameda. She lets me use her professional-grade sewing machine to make cushion covers.  Summary: On the upholstery front we are cookin’ with grease.

Pale Moon is second from left. I don't know how great the color rendition is on your monitor, but mine sucks.

Pale Moon is brighter in real life.

Dean and I have decided to paint the living room in Benjamin Moore’s Pale Moon. It is a yellow that simply glows at night under our chandelier—in every way it reminds me of the elegant halo around the moon. In the natural morning light, however, Pale Moon is cheerful. Between this zig-zag sofa, our famous donut painting, and the yellow walls, we might not need to drink coffee in the morning—we can just walk into the living room for a jolt of energy. I am going to keep everything else in the room extremely neutral so it does not become a travelling circus for the eyes.

Mr. and Mrs. Chow have their first dance.

On another note, this weekend was a great poster child for a renovation/life balance. We were so happy to attend our dear friends’ Wilson and Erin’s wedding at the Golden Gate Club at the Presidio. Wilson and Erin are our true mutual friends—they introduced Dean and me two years ago! Congratulations to the Chows!

We also managed to go to Baker Beach to enjoy the gorgeous weather, paint up a storm, organize the storage room, got to yoga, and watch about 8 hours of college football (like I said, Wilson is in town). Hooray for three day weekends!

Dean is putting the finishing touches on our gorgeous new laundry room. He will write about that soon.  

-Andi